Ric Charlesworth knows the task at hand is hard, and Indian hockey’s technical advisor is choosing to concentrate on the future now. “Indian hockey has a fever but the condition is not moribund yet,” he says, here in the city to take over his new assignment with the Indian Hockey Federation’s Centre of Excellence. “Now that we have not qualified for Beijing, we should look at it this way — we have six extra months for the 2012 London Olympics. Teams like Argentina, Poland and Great Britain have been creating problems for us and we need to get past them before we can take on countries like Holland, Australia and Germany,” he says.But he insists that a change needs to come from all quarters. “There has to be a change in the mindset. You can’t live in the past and that has to change straightway. “The World Cup is just two years away and straight after that you have the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. I think Indian hockey is nowadays a contradiction. It is lively and full of resources but yet it is lost in the past.” The solution, the Australian says, is to make the top stronger. “I believe it should be a top to down programme, so that teams playing in the international arena have an effect on the teams playing in the domestic circuit. Also, there is a need for the private sector to come and support the game,” he diagnoses. Having spent time with the women’s team camp in Lucknow, Charlesworth had some good words for the girls, but kept a realistic tone on their chances of Olympic qualification. “The girls have been in fine form. Playing conditions in Kazan will be quite cold and I guess their task will be a lot tougher as they don’t know much about Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Besides, getting past the United States will also be a difficult task. I believe it will be commendable if they qualify.” But the recent pace of decision-making by the IHF has left him bitter. “A lot of things have happened over the past four months. It has been unfair as there are a lot of things to be sorted out in Indian hockey. It will be April soon and I don’t have an office in India. I need a base in India to operate; I have luggage in Chennai, luggage in Lucknow, luggage in Delhi and luggage in Chandigarh. I still haven’t got any support staff. Maybe India was not ready for me,” he rues.
